Influence of Socio-Economic and Psychosocial Profiles on the Human Breast Milk Bacteriome of South African Women

The human breast milk (HBM) bacteriome is an important, continuous source of microbes to the neonate in early life, playing an important role in shaping the infant’s intestinal bacteriome. Study of the composition of the HBM bacteriome is an emerging area of research, with little informati...

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Main Authors: Anna Ojo-Okunola, Shantelle Claassen-Weitz, Kilaza S. Mwaikono, Sugnet Gardner-Lubbe, Dan J. Stein, Heather J. Zar, Mark P. Nicol, Elloise du Toit
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2019-06-01
Series:Nutrients
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/11/6/1390
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language English
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author Anna Ojo-Okunola
Shantelle Claassen-Weitz
Kilaza S. Mwaikono
Sugnet Gardner-Lubbe
Dan J. Stein
Heather J. Zar
Mark P. Nicol
Elloise du Toit
spellingShingle Anna Ojo-Okunola
Shantelle Claassen-Weitz
Kilaza S. Mwaikono
Sugnet Gardner-Lubbe
Dan J. Stein
Heather J. Zar
Mark P. Nicol
Elloise du Toit
Influence of Socio-Economic and Psychosocial Profiles on the Human Breast Milk Bacteriome of South African Women
Nutrients
human breast milk
bacteriome
microbiome
16S rRNA gene sequencing
bacterial profiles
socio-economic
psychosocial
Africa
author_facet Anna Ojo-Okunola
Shantelle Claassen-Weitz
Kilaza S. Mwaikono
Sugnet Gardner-Lubbe
Dan J. Stein
Heather J. Zar
Mark P. Nicol
Elloise du Toit
author_sort Anna Ojo-Okunola
title Influence of Socio-Economic and Psychosocial Profiles on the Human Breast Milk Bacteriome of South African Women
title_short Influence of Socio-Economic and Psychosocial Profiles on the Human Breast Milk Bacteriome of South African Women
title_full Influence of Socio-Economic and Psychosocial Profiles on the Human Breast Milk Bacteriome of South African Women
title_fullStr Influence of Socio-Economic and Psychosocial Profiles on the Human Breast Milk Bacteriome of South African Women
title_full_unstemmed Influence of Socio-Economic and Psychosocial Profiles on the Human Breast Milk Bacteriome of South African Women
title_sort influence of socio-economic and psychosocial profiles on the human breast milk bacteriome of south african women
publisher MDPI AG
series Nutrients
issn 2072-6643
publishDate 2019-06-01
description The human breast milk (HBM) bacteriome is an important, continuous source of microbes to the neonate in early life, playing an important role in shaping the infant&#8217;s intestinal bacteriome. Study of the composition of the HBM bacteriome is an emerging area of research, with little information available, particularly from low- and middle-income countries. The aim of this study was to characterize the diversity of bacterial communities in HBM samples collected between 6&#8722;10 weeks postpartum from lactating South African women and to study potential influencing factors of the bacteriome. Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing of samples from 554 women, we demonstrated that the HBM bacteriome was largely dominated by the phyla Firmicutes (mean relative abundance: 71.1%) and Actinobacteria (mean relative abundance: 16.4%). The most abundant genera identified from the HBM bacteriome were <i>Streptococcus</i> (mean relative abundance: 48.6%), <i>Staphylococcus</i> (mean relative abundance: 17.8%), <i>Rothia</i> (mean relative abundance: 5.8%), and <i>Corynebacterium</i> (mean relative abundance: 4.3%). &#8220;Core&#8221; bacterial genera including <i>Corynebacterium</i>, <i>Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Rothia, Veillonella, Gemella, Acinetobacter, Micrococcus</i> and a genus belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae family were present in 80% of samples. HBM samples were classified, according to their bacteriome, into three major clusters, dominated by the genera <i>Staphylococcus</i> (cluster 1), a combination of <i>Staphylococcus</i> and <i>Streptococcus</i> (cluster 2), and <i>Streptococcus</i> (cluster 3). The cluster groups differed significantly for Shannon and chao1 richness indices. Bacterial interactions were studied using co-occurrence networks with positive associations observed between the abundances of <i>Staphylococcus</i> and <i>Corynebacteria</i> (members of the skin microflora) and between <i>Streptococcus, Rothia, Veillonella</i>, and <i>Gemella</i> (members of the oral microflora). HBM from older mothers had a higher Shannon diversity index. The study site was associated with differences in HBM bacteriome composition (permutational multivariate analysis of variance using distance matrices (PERMANOVA), <i>p</i> &lt; 0.05). No other tested socio-demographic or psychosocial factors were associated with HBM bacterial composition.
topic human breast milk
bacteriome
microbiome
16S rRNA gene sequencing
bacterial profiles
socio-economic
psychosocial
Africa
url https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/11/6/1390
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spelling doaj-41bb5f8d3536417d9c0880d223a67ad22020-11-24T21:27:42ZengMDPI AGNutrients2072-66432019-06-01116139010.3390/nu11061390nu11061390Influence of Socio-Economic and Psychosocial Profiles on the Human Breast Milk Bacteriome of South African WomenAnna Ojo-Okunola0Shantelle Claassen-Weitz1Kilaza S. Mwaikono2Sugnet Gardner-Lubbe3Dan J. Stein4Heather J. Zar5Mark P. Nicol6Elloise du Toit7Division of Medical Microbiology, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Observatory 7925, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7700, South AfricaDivision of Medical Microbiology, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Observatory 7925, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7700, South AfricaComputational Biology Group and H3ABioNet, Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences, Observatory 7925, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7700, South AfricaDepartment of Statistics and Actuarial Science, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Matieland 7602, Stellenbosch, South AfricaSA MRC Unit on Risk &amp; Resilience in Mental Disorders, Dept of Psychiatry &amp; Neuroscience Institute, Observatory 7925, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7700, South AfricaInstitute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Observatory 7925, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7700, South AfricaDivision of Medical Microbiology, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Observatory 7925, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7700, South AfricaDivision of Medical Microbiology, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Observatory 7925, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7700, South AfricaThe human breast milk (HBM) bacteriome is an important, continuous source of microbes to the neonate in early life, playing an important role in shaping the infant&#8217;s intestinal bacteriome. Study of the composition of the HBM bacteriome is an emerging area of research, with little information available, particularly from low- and middle-income countries. The aim of this study was to characterize the diversity of bacterial communities in HBM samples collected between 6&#8722;10 weeks postpartum from lactating South African women and to study potential influencing factors of the bacteriome. Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing of samples from 554 women, we demonstrated that the HBM bacteriome was largely dominated by the phyla Firmicutes (mean relative abundance: 71.1%) and Actinobacteria (mean relative abundance: 16.4%). The most abundant genera identified from the HBM bacteriome were <i>Streptococcus</i> (mean relative abundance: 48.6%), <i>Staphylococcus</i> (mean relative abundance: 17.8%), <i>Rothia</i> (mean relative abundance: 5.8%), and <i>Corynebacterium</i> (mean relative abundance: 4.3%). &#8220;Core&#8221; bacterial genera including <i>Corynebacterium</i>, <i>Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Rothia, Veillonella, Gemella, Acinetobacter, Micrococcus</i> and a genus belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae family were present in 80% of samples. HBM samples were classified, according to their bacteriome, into three major clusters, dominated by the genera <i>Staphylococcus</i> (cluster 1), a combination of <i>Staphylococcus</i> and <i>Streptococcus</i> (cluster 2), and <i>Streptococcus</i> (cluster 3). The cluster groups differed significantly for Shannon and chao1 richness indices. Bacterial interactions were studied using co-occurrence networks with positive associations observed between the abundances of <i>Staphylococcus</i> and <i>Corynebacteria</i> (members of the skin microflora) and between <i>Streptococcus, Rothia, Veillonella</i>, and <i>Gemella</i> (members of the oral microflora). HBM from older mothers had a higher Shannon diversity index. The study site was associated with differences in HBM bacteriome composition (permutational multivariate analysis of variance using distance matrices (PERMANOVA), <i>p</i> &lt; 0.05). No other tested socio-demographic or psychosocial factors were associated with HBM bacterial composition.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/11/6/1390human breast milkbacteriomemicrobiome16S rRNA gene sequencingbacterial profilessocio-economicpsychosocialAfrica